Spinach, Millet, and Flax Tortillas - Recipe

For weeks now, I've been trying to find a way to replicate the spinach & flax lavash I bought at our local health food store. The product is made by Sami's Bakery in Florida, and the ingredients, according to the package, are pretty simple:

Millet Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Ground Flax Seed, Salt, Non Aluminum Baking Powder, Spinach, Oregano, Garlic and Water

The nutritional information, per half a piece:

Calories: 61
Fat - 1 g
Carbs - 11 g (8 g fiber)
Protein - 2g

They are pretty good size pieces, 8 inches, I think, and I usually ate a whole one. VERY delicious - even my husband raved about them. The problem? They are pretty pricey - especially locally - for 6 pieces. So I was determined to find a recipe to make them at home. All of the ingredients were available and reasonably priced, so I was all for it.

It took me weeks to find something I could use. Google searches for "spinach lavash" kept leading me back to Sami's Bakery's web site. I finally got smart and changed "lavash" to "tortilla" and finally got some good hits. Most recipes called for regular flours, either white or wheat, but I was determined to only use the flours listed in the ingredients.

After much research, here is my recipe for spinach tortillas using the ingredients above. The nutritional information, as you will see, didn't come out as "good" as the ones from Sami's Bakery - those seem to have more fiber. But other than that, I am very pleased!!! So is my husband. My son, not so much, but he's a picky little thing.

1/3 cup (84 g) spinach - I used frozen that was thawed and drained very well
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup (40 g) golden flax meal - you could probably use regular
1 cup (160 g) brown rice flour
1 cup (140 g) millet, ground into flour - I only had whole millet and had a heck of a time figuring out the equivalent of whole millet to millet flour
1 tbs oregano
2 tbs garlic powder - more or less, depending on your preferences
1 tbs onion powder - not in the original list of ingredients but I put it in practically everything - you can leave it out if you want
1/2 cup warm water - I found I needed twice as much water

Combine dry ingredients and spinach in bowl. Add water slowly while kneading with dough hook. Knead about until ball forms. (This did not form a ball the way regular dough does. I think mixing my hand and forming a ball would be just as good.) Let rest 15 minutes. Divide into 12 balls, about the size of ping pong balls, and press into 4-6" circles.

Brown tortillas in pre-heated pan for about 5 minutes on each side, just until cooked. (Next time I will bake them, and post an update with directions for that.)

Nutritional Information, per tortilla:
Calories - 107
Fat - 2 g
Carbs - 21 g (2 g fiber)
Protein - 2 g

They were really, really good! So good that I think I will be making them often enough to justify buying a tortilla press. Today, I just sprayed a silicone baking sheet with nonstick spray, folded it over each ball, then pressed it down with a cast iron skillet. Then I had to carefully peel the tortillas from the baking mat by flipping it over so that the dough was in my hand, then pull the mat gently off. I actually wonder if I'm just better off doing it this way, if the dough would stick to the press. I'll have to think about it.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

http://www.22gnomes.net/misc/spinachtortillas1.JPG

http://www.22gnomes.net/misc/spinachtortillas2.JPG

http://www.22gnomes.net/misc/spinachtortillas3.JPG

If you have any tweaks or suggestions, I'd love to hear them!!